Teacher Credibility: Why It Matters & How To Build It

When your students view you as a credible teacher, they are more likely to do well in school. According to John Hattie’s latest results (2016), teacher credibility has a massive impact (d = 0.9) on the subsequent learning that happens in the classroom. To put this in perspective, teacher credibility has more than twice the impact of student motivation. This doesn’t mean that student motivation is not important – it is. Rather, it simply shows that teacher credibility is even more important.

But don’t most teachers like to see themselves as credible? They probably do, but it is not teachers’ perception of themselves that matters. Rather, it is a student’s perception that is important. Yet, it is not simply a matter of whether they “like” you, but a matter of whether they think you are a good teacher. Students are very accurate at judging which teachers are good at their jobs.

If a teacher is not perceived as credible, the students just turn off.John Hattie

There are three core aspects that are important to students’ judgments about teacher credibility:

Trusting Relationships

Competence

Passion

(NB some academics include a fourth aspect, “immediacy” that I have amalgamated into trusting relationships).

Teacher Credibility Aspect 1: Trusting Relationships

If you want to be seen as credible, you must form trusting relationships with your students. Such relationships are based on care. You must care about your students as both:

People

Learners

Credible teachers care about the results that each of their students achieves. They are not happy to let a struggling student fail anymore and than they are to let a bright student coast along. Yet, they do not expect their students to do it on their own. Rather, they are there for their students every step of the way – and their students know it.

Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Adapted from Theodore Roosevelt

Credible teachers are also there for their students as people. You need to make sure that your students know that they are important to you. Teacher-student relationships flourish when you accept and like each of your students for who they are as an individual. Go out of your way to talk to them about their lives and their interests outside of class. Share their excitement, empathize with their sadness/fears, and be mentally present with them when you do.

Teacher Credibility Aspect 2: Competence

If you want to be seen as credible, your students must believe that you:

Know your stuff

Are good at helping them learn it

Can manage their behaviour

You need to know the content that you must teach and you need to know it well. That way you can be clear about what it is you want your students to learn – including what they must know and what they must be able to do to succeed. Teachers with a deep understanding of the material they are teaching can also help students achieve conceptual change when needed.

While knowing your stuff is important, you also must be good at teaching it. My daughter had a teacher whose knowledge of her subject was remarkable. However, according to my daughter, she was not very good at sharing that knowledge in ways that help to students to understand it. Of course, my daughter may be wrong. Yet, according to Hattie, students are very good at making such judgments.

You may know your stuff well and be good at teaching it. However, if your students don’t behave well they will actually judge youand form beliefs about your competence. Credible teachers are good at managing their students’ behaviour. Of course, it is true that good teaching nurtures good behaviour. Yet it is also true that teachers who manage behaviour effectively are then able to teach well. You need to be both firm and fair. Related: Top 10 Behaviour Management Strategies; My 5 Favourite On-the-Spot Strategies To Use.

Teacher Credibility Aspect 3: Passion

Students enjoy being taught by teachers who are passionate about their work. Furthermore, they learn more. Therefore, it is not surprising that students see passionate teachers as being more credible than other teachers. Passion and teacher credibility go hand-in-hand.

Some teachers are passionate about what they teach. Personally, I’m extremely passionate about history – both modern and ancient. Passionate teachers are infectious, causing the students to engage more fully with whatever content is being taught. I don’t normally get excited by mathematics despite the fact I find it relatively easy. Yet I once went to an in-service when the national curriculum first came in. The in-service was presented by a university lecturer whose passion for mathematics emanated from her very being. As a result, I was fully engaged for two days despite not being personally excited by the material.

Students appreciated being taught by knowledgeable and passionate teachers.John Hattie

However, sometimes you must teach subjects you are not passionate about. In such cases, faking it just doesn’t work. Thankfully, students still pick up on your passion to help them learn the material, even if you aren’t passionate about the material itself. Students regard teachers who love their work and who relished the challenge of teaching as being more credible than other teachers.

You must also be careful not to confuse being passionate with being easy. You may be passionate about a subject. You may be passionate about your job. And you may be passionate about helping students to make real progress. In turn, you make it easier to engage your students. Yet, your students will still need to do the hard work necessary for success.

In Short

There is a strong link between teacher credibility and student achievement. It is your students’ views about your credibility that matter – not your own views. You can increase your perceived credibility by:

About the Author

Shaun Killian is an experienced teacher and principal with a passion for helping students to excel. He believes that assisting teachers to adopt evidence-based education is the best way to make this happen. Shaun is committed to bringing you practical advice based on solid research.

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Your clear presentation on these blogs, your understanding of the subject matter, and your own passion for helping teachers, give you credibility in my eyes. Thanks for modeling what you are talking about!

Thanks for the article – a really good read. It is great to see a concept of the presence of a teacher as being important to being a good teacher – especially when two of the three issues mentioned are hard to place on the ATSIL teacher standards. The notion of a quality teacher rarely looks at the actual disposition of the teacher, the background and life experiences of a teacher who has some outside of the education sector are, in my experience, a set-back, not an advantage.
It is also really important, for my mind, to never forget that the most realistic aspect portrayed of John Brewster as a teacher is that he was fired and hung out to dry because of his passion, knowledge of the subject and his ability to develop a trusting relationship with his students.

Would you be able to tell me a reference or two for where Hattie has discussed credibility, besides from it appearing on a list or bar graph? I have spent a long time looking, without much success. It would really help me for a literature review that I am doing at the moment.